


After Committed

by phoenixnz



Category: Smallville
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 10:04:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4702007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixnz/pseuds/phoenixnz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lois' thoughts in the aftermath of being kidnapped by the psycho jeweller after he'd forced her to confess to her deepest secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Committed

I unlocked the door to the Talon apartment. Clark touched my hand, his own hand curling around the keys.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Will you stop asking me that? That’s about ten times since we left the police station.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just when a psycho kidnaps you and tries to electrocute you …”

“I get it,” I said, shoving him with a hand on his powerful chest. “But like I’ve told you nine times already, I’m fine. A hot bath, a good night’s sleep, I’ll be great.”

He nodded, his gaze still worried as he looked me over. He got that odd look he usually got when he was concentrating on something. It looked really intense, which made me wonder what he was looking for. It was kind of invasive the way he was staring.

“Well, I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” he said.

I nodded and entered the apartment, closing the door softly behind me. I pressed my ear to the door, listening, waiting until I heard his steps down the stairs.

I dropped the keys on the counter, noticing my hand was trembling. Thank goodness Clark hadn’t noticed that, I thought. I’d been shaky since he’d got those manacles off me, only I’d tried not to show it. The last thing I want is to show myself as vulnerable in front of Clark.

I’d talked to Chloe at the police station and she was relieved we were both okay. She’d asked me if I needed her there but as much as I love my cousin, I wasn’t prepared for the Jimmy and Chloe show. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad she’s happy, but I just couldn’t deal with it.

I filled the bath with hot water and bubble bath, then undressed and sank down in the water, thinking about what had happened. All my feelings of terror came back as I thought about what that man had done. I remembered the way Clark had come storming in, practically breaking down the door. I remembered that psycho knocking Clark out and him waking up in the chair.

All my bravado vanished the moment the man punished me for lying by sending god knows how many volts of electricity through Clark. I felt sick with fear. I couldn’t look at Clark. Even if the question had been kind of a trick question. Of course I hadn’t cheated on my fiancé, but Clark wasn’t exactly my fiancé. We’d been pretending! How can you cheat on someone if you’re not actually with them in the first place?

Then he asked me how I felt about Clark. Again I couldn’t look at Clark. Did I love him? He was my best friend, next to Chloe. We’d been through so much together. Maybe we had hated each other in the beginning. Or had we? I mean, don’t get me wrong. Clark’s a hot guy, if you can overlook the whole ‘flannel man’ thing. He drives me crazy. But at the end of the day, he’s the one person I can count on to be there when I need him.

I mean, who else would be there to comfort me when I break up with a really hot guy? I said at the time, ‘why settle for hot, rich and famous when I can hang out with you?’ I really meant that too, because while Ollie is a good guy, it always felt like there was something missing.

Okay, maybe I’m kind of sappy. I mean, we are talking about farmboy Clark Kent, who is such a geek sometimes, but like I say, I can always count on him to be there when I need him.

As I thought about the things that psycho was asking me, my thoughts drifted to psycho lady who I’d caught Clark sucking face with in the elevator. Why did it bother me so much to see him with an admittedly sexy woman? I mean, this is Clark. Geek and flannel man extraordinaire. God, why had it hurt so much? And why was she saying all those dumb things about a deep connection to Clark. I don’t have a deep connection to Smallville. I don’t know what she’s talking about.

Okay, okay, so maybe I said I loved Clark and maybe it was true, but I’m not in love with Clark, no sirree, not me. Not Lois Joanne Lane. Not in a million years.

I got out of the bath and put on the tv, even though it was really late and I should be in bed. I microwaved some popcorn and found some old movie on cable. I don’t even know why I was watching the stupid movie, about two best friends who sleep together and stop being friends and then realise they’re in love with each other. I mean, okay, Meg Ryan and yeah, she was pretty cool in her day, I guess. But me, I hate romcom. Can we say chick flick?

I don’t know why but as I began watching a scene, the tears started rolling down my face.

“You realise of course that we could never be friends.”

“Why not?”

“What I’m saying is, and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form, is that men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.”

I couldn’t stop it. The tears just overflowed and I sobbed and sobbed as if my heart had broken. I was lying to myself. What I had said down in that psycho’s bunker had been the truth. I love Clark. I’m in love with him.

God, I have to hide it from him. He can’t ever know.

But he heard me. He had to.

I barely slept that night and had to use more make-up than usual to hide the dark circles under my eyes. Chloe must have noticed but didn’t say a thing, just hugged me.

I did my best to avoid Clark that day, not wanting to let him see me. I mean, it was bad enough him seeing me take a drive on the porcelain highway, not to mention the whole Lois and Clark forever tattoo, which was sooo embarrassing, but this? Yeah, I can’t face him over this.

I managed to make it through most of the morning before we ran into each other. I’d just pressed the button for the elevator breathing a sigh of relief, having passed by his desk, making sure he wasn’t there.

“You’re not avoiding me are you?”

I turned and looked at him. He looked so damn sexy in that blue shirt which brought out the blue in his eyes. I mean, his eyes are green, I know that, but there are times when they seem to change colour to match what he’s wearing and oh my god, get a grip girl.

I glanced away, shifting the folders in my arms.

“Me? Why would I be avoiding you?”

We had some inane conversation about Chloe and Jimmy when the elevator bell dinged and the doors opened. He held the doors open for me. I made some lame excuse about stairs being better for cardio. Okay, so I was avoiding him. Sue me.

Clark said something back about it being the safer way to travel, like, hello, lame?

Still, I got on and refused to look at him, even as we talked about the jeweller confessing his crimes. He’d kidnapped five couples for his psycho game.

“So, uh, about that test …” It was now or never.

“Who would have thought you were such a good liar, huh? You even beat that machine.”

He was giving me an out. I was practically dancing with joy inside, happy I didn’t have to confess and totally embarrass myself. More than I had already.

"Even though I'm a natural master of deception, I needed a little help. I mean, that machine was a piece of Kaiser-era junk."

Clark chuckled. “Well, it did work the first time, you know, when you electrocuted me.”

I chuckled in reply. “Exactly. So while he was of playing game-show host, I slipped the sensor off my finger. Pretty crafty huh?”

“So you weren’t telling the truth?”

Clark’s face suggested he believed me, but he knew I hadn’t taken that sensor off my finger and he knew that I knew that he knew … aagh. I mean, Clark might act dumb at times but he’s a lot smarter than some people give him credit for.

I was safe for another day.


End file.
